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Marathon:

Spink rides his heart out

By:
Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor
Published:
September 21, 2009, 18:45,
Updated:
September 22, 2009, 20:42

Thomas races to the women's title

Tory Thomas wins the elite women's Australian Marathon National title.

Tory Thomas wins the elite women's Australian Marathon National title.

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Promising his fiancée that he needed to win the national mountain bike title this weekend before they could marry proved the incentive needed for the eventual winner, Murray Spink. The 30-year-old Melbourne rider rode his heart out to win the tough 105km marathon race in Bendigo. Afterward, he confirmed his wedding date, in two weeks with fiancée Sarah Riley. It was only in the final metres that Spink outsprinted two riders to the line to win in four hours and 30 minutes.

"I promised Sarah, and I just had to win," said Spink after his win over a strong field with more than a dozen top contenders.

The racers enjoyed almost perfect track conditions after some light rain the night before.

The men's race saw an early lead group of 12 riders form and by the 80km mark, only four had been dropped. At the last aid station, a split appeared in the leading bunch with only three remaining in the lead, thereby setting up an exciting final sprint. Spink has won all previous events at this location, but said that this win, his first national title, could also be attributed to his focus on training in any weather, course knowledge and his dual suspension bike.

"Everyone wants a jersey. It will certainly go up on the wall," said Spink, who has never lost a race on this course.

Just three seconds behind was Port Macquarie's Jason English in second place. Victorian Neil Van der Ploeg, who recently won the Tour of Timor, finished third, another one second behind. A disappointed Ben Mather placed fourth after being at the front of the pack while Nick Menager finished fifth - both were just 30 seconds behind the winner.

Veteran John Darcey was the highest placed none-elite category rider in 22nd position.

The women's event saw a return to racing for former national champion Tory Thomas from Victoria. Thomas said she was feeling great and attributed her win to the fitness from the Tour de Timor and her newfound enjoyment of riding.

The women started about 30 minutes before the men.

"You know that was fun," she said after riding in the lead for most of the race. "Peta rode well and it's a shame Jo (Wall) had trouble earlier on."

Wall's pedal came off early in the race leaving another local rider, Peta Mullens, and Jenni King to chase after Thomas. Mullens was an unknown quantity for most of the riders and spectators, but as the Australian Under 23 women's road race champion, her fitness was neve rin doubt though she has not competed in many long distance mountain bike races.

The leaders stayed together until about the 80km mark, when Mullens and Thomas opened up a gap on King. In the final 10km, Thomas worked her way into a two-minute advantage over Mullens and rode herself to a national title.

Mullens placed second with Melbourne's King riding strongly in third.

Young Adelaide rider, James Hanus was the first competitor completed the Gold Triangle half marathon in two hours. He also won the under 18 division.

Winners of the national jersey earned automatic selection for the 2010 Marathon World Championships in Germany.

Results

Open men (105km)
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Murray Spink (Aus) 4:30:01  
2 Jason English (Aus) 0:00:03  
3 Neil Van Der Ploeg (Aus) 0:00:04  
4 Ben Mather (Aus) 0:00:29  
5 Nick Menager (Aus) 0:00:30  
6 Shaun Lewis (Aus) 0:01:10  
7 Matthew Fleming (Aus) 0:01:12  
8 Paul Van der Ploeg (Aus) 0:01:33  
9 Hamish Elliot (Aus) 0:02:19  
10 Troy Glennan (Aus) 0:06:08  
11 Nick Both (Aus) 0:06:57  
12 Luke Fetch (Aus) 0:07:40  
13 Joel Ryan (Aus) 0:07:59  
14 James Williamson (Aus) 0:09:11  
15 Adrian Jackson (Aus) 0:12:35  
16 Phil Orr (Aus) 0:16:49  
17 Scott Liston (Aus) 0:22:25  
18 Jarrod Moroni (Aus) 0:24:19  
19 Rohin Adams (Aus) 0:25:14  
20 Matt Ligtermoet (Aus) 0:31:09  
21 Dean Jones (Aus) 0:32:06  
22 John Darcey (Aus) 0:33:55  
23 Troy Bailey (Aus) 0:37:44  
24 Russell Collett (Aus) 0:38:16  
25 Justin Wornes (Aus) 0:40:35  
26 Carson Tully (Aus) 0:40:45  
27 Brian John (Aus) 0:42:34  
28 Paul Randell (Aus) 0:42:44  
29 Andras Nagy (Aus) 0:43:12  
30 Mark Tupalski (Aus) 0:47:07  
31 Mark Fenner (Aus) 0:47:08  
32 Andrew Mock (Aus) 0:47:21  
33 Craig Borham (Aus) 0:51:25  
34 Sean Hurley (Aus) 0:52:45  
35 Jason Quigley (Aus) 0:56:13  
36 Tim Jamieson (Aus) 0:56:29  
37 Christopher Tassell (Aus) 0:56:54  
38 Robert Meharry (Aus) 0:57:29  
39 Tim McColl (Aus) 0:58:52  
40 Liam McCrory (Aus) 1:01:41  
41 Mark McInnes (Aus) 1:04:27  
42 Craig Woolard (Aus) 1:06:19  
43 Christian Caceres (Aus) 1:06:22  
44 Roger Cull (Aus) 1:06:44  
45 Chris Fryer (Aus) 1:07:38  
46 Lloyd Neilson (Aus) 1:07:55  
47 Dean Cowling (Aus) 1:11:12  
48 Damien McGoldrick (Aus) 1:11:22  
49 Grant Lebbink (Aus) 1:11:54  
50 Scott Welch (Aus) 1:12:16  
51 Jeffrey Williams (NZl) 1:12:53  
52 Warren Faneco (Aus) 1:14:24  
53 Mark Simpson (Aus) 1:15:22  
54 Leigh Barratt (Aus) 1:17:19  
55 Peter Winfield (Aus) 1:19:44  
56 Matthew Griggs (Aus) 1:20:04  
57 Craig Fromhold (Aus) 1:20:43  
58 Brett Kellett (Aus) 1:21:21  
59 Ronan Magaharan (Aus)    
60 Matthew McGill (Aus) 1:22:15  
61 Beven Kerr (Aus) 1:23:50  
62 Bryan Maris (Aus) 1:23:53  
63 Niels-Henrick Laugesen (Aus) 1:24:58  
64 Andrew McCallum (Aus) 1:28:07  
65 Gareth Syme (Aus)    
66 Brian Cameron (Aus) 1:29:55  
67 Dean Thomas (Aus) 1:30:05  
68 Craig Cummings (Aus) 1:30:06  
69 Ollie Klein (Aus) 1:30:09  
70 Casper Murtonen (Aus) 1:30:46  
71 Stewart McKenzie (Aus) 1:32:24  
72 Tim Rowe (Aus) 1:33:44  
73 Stuart Bajema (Aus) 1:36:14  
74 Bryce Young (Aus) 1:38:52  
75 Anthony Caffry (Aus) 1:41:19  
76 Mark Hester (Aus) 1:41:48  
77 John Tassell (Aus) 1:42:05  
78 Tony Clark (Aus) 1:43:06  
79 Andrew Gogos (Aus) 1:46:53  
80 Kerry Ryan (Aus) 1:47:56  
81 Geoff Kelly (Aus) 1:48:06  
82 Chris Edwards (Aus) 1:49:02  
83 Alistair Gribble (Aus) 1:51:56  
84 Tim Neal (Aus) 1:52:35  
85 Brett Henderson (Aus) 1:53:29  
86 John Anderson (Aus) 1:56:01  
87 Craig Baylis (Aus) 1:56:39  
88 Tony French (Aus) 1:56:40  
89 Peter McWaters (Aus) 2:02:35  
90 Walter Lederman (Aus) 2:02:56  
91 Mark Lunn (Aus) 2:03:21  
92 Ashley Gale (Aus) 2:03:39  
93 Alan Carpenter (Aus) 2:05:17  
94 Christian Lloyd (Aus) 2:05:19  
95 Steve Brindle (Aus) 2:07:22  
96 Dylan Reilly (Aus) 2:09:45  
97 David Kidd (Aus) 2:12:00  
98 Malcolm Tirabassi (Aus) 2:17:36  
99 John de Pree (Aus) 2:18:02  
100 David Randabel (Aus) 2:22:39  
101 Scott Lancaster (Aus) 2:24:05  
102 Rohan Williams (Aus) 2:25:49  
103 Gregor Blair-Smith (Aus) 2:30:16  
104 Grant Rieger (Aus) 2:33:51  
105 John Watts (Aus) 2:35:48  
106 Matthew Scanlon (Aus) 2:41:15  
107 Ranald Young (Aus) 2:41:37  
108 David Samuel (Aus) 2:42:01  
109 Adam Kelsall (Aus) 2:42:57  
110 Stephen Goodall (Aus) 2:47:44  
111 Marco Stiffler (Swi) 2:54:11  
112 Stefan Wright (Aus) 2:54:12  
113 Duncan Harrison (Aus) 2:56:19  
114 Andrew Symons (Aus) 2:58:44  
115 Michael Stanbrough (Aus) 3:00:06  
116 Kim Carrigan (Aus) 3:01:35  
117 Stephen Johnson (Aus) 3:04:36  
118 Gavin Dunk (Aus) 3:04:48  
119 Paul Ripp (Aus) 3:10:21  
120 Scott Benton (Aus) 3:21:59  
121 Neil Kinder (Aus) 3:37:24  
122 Gary Nelson (Aus) 3:56:55  
DNF Rowan Smith (Aus)    
DNF Nathan Wilson (Aus)    
DNF Jonathan Goh (Aus)    
DNF John Groves (Aus)    
DNF Tim McGrath (Aus)    
DNF Michael Smith (Aus)    
DNF Rob Croft (Aus)    
DNF Adam Benton (Aus)    
DNF Ash Harvey (Aus)    
DNS Joshua Carlson (Aus)    
DNS James Devonshire (Aus)    
DNS James Kennedy (Aus)    
DNS Jonathan Cowan (Aus)    
DNS Raymond Hart (Aus)    
DNS Christopher Herron (Aus)    
DNS Mallachi Moxon (Aus)    
DNS Garry Lewis (Aus)    
DNS Timothy Arch (Aus)    
DNS Andrew Chisholm (Aus)    
DNS James Lamb (Aus)    
Open women (105km)
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Tory Thomas (Aus) 5:33:13  
2 Peta Mullens (Aus) 0:02:00  
3 Jenni King (Aus) 0:07:27  
4 Rebecca Locke (Aus) 0:19:17  
5 Jessica Douglas (Aus) 0:33:54  
6 Meg Carrigan (Aus) 0:40:05  
7 Tania Churchill (Aus) 1:18:32  
8 Jo Williams (Aus) 1:27:16  
9 Courtney Shinn (Aus) 1:37:34  
10 Kim Whitehouse (Aus) 1:50:08  
11 Carolyn Jackson (Aus) 2:08:58  
12 Jane Catford (Aus) 2:40:17  
DNF Joanna Wall (Aus)    
DNF Kelly Bartlett (Aus)    
DNS Katrien Van Der Spiegel (Aus)    
DNS Trudy Nicholas (Aus)    
DNS Naomi Hansen (Aus)    
DNS Claire Stevens (Aus)    
Open men (50km)
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 James Hanus 2:00:09  
2 Jim Hsu 0:05:06  
3 Craig Peacock 0:07:06  
4 Mikkeli Godfree 0:08:14  
5 Jack Jane 0:08:58  
6 Enrico Eberhart 0:09:58  
7 Dyon Balding    
8 Brendon Darby 0:12:09  
9 Josh Sek 0:12:16  
10 Barry King 0:14:59  
11 Thomas Power 0:15:09  
12 Andrew Caithness 0:15:25  
13 Sean Baker 0:15:59  
14 Gerard Thompson 0:17:19  
15 Daniel Vains 0:18:19  
16 Nick Grosso 0:18:49  
17 Jarrod Stonham 0:19:04  
18 Mark Casey 0:20:16  
19 Christopher Pase 0:21:50  
20 Robert Gittins 0:22:20  
21 Aaron Batchelor 0:22:57  
22 John Carmody 0:23:55  
23 Marc Bishop 0:24:05  
24 John Wright 0:26:20  
25 Steve Nichols 0:28:46  
26 Kyle Naish 0:28:53  
27 Steve Flood 0:30:15  
28 Scott Grinter 0:30:24  
29 Shannon Turner 0:30:47  
30 Andrew Hollole 0:31:28  
31 Dean McKeown 0:31:32  
32 Tim Harman 0:32:36  
33 Wayne Buttie 0:34:28  
34 Shaun Henchley 0:34:37  
35 Phillip Souter 0:34:42  
36 Rowan Tatchell 0:34:45  
37 Jon Ozanne 0:34:51  
38 Steve McRae 0:34:53  
39 Ashlin Casey 0:35:33  
40 Gerben Graske-Borst 0:36:11  
41 Simon Utting 0:37:59  
42 Martin Jackson 0:39:28  
43 Steve Sharp 0:40:03  
44 Brett Bradley 0:44:02  
45 Anthony Cowling 0:44:22  
46 Garth Kellett 0:44:29  
47 David Kennett 0:44:48  
48 Jared Hartley 0:48:54  
49 David Macauley 0:49:24  
50 Phil Watts 0:50:24  
51 Tim Moore 0:50:27  
52 Richard Ovesen 0:51:08  
53 Michael Tyrrell 0:53:22  
54 Troy Kernaghan 0:54:19  
55 Liam Barr 0:54:20  
56 Colin Gleeson 0:54:24  
57 Benjamin Culton 0:54:32  
58 Peter Hart 0:56:54  
59 Ian Wilson 1:00:36  
60 Frank Gasperic 1:02:25  
61 Peter Mayne 1:03:54  
62 Andrew Thompson 1:04:24  
63 Andrew Herron 1:05:39  
64 Mark Southby 1:06:31  
65 Andrew Price 1:07:17  
66 Peter Guy 1:07:51  
67 Nick Colwell 1:11:10  
68 Joel Rockes 1:12:22  
69 Simon Short 1:14:01  
70 Paul Mays 1:15:46  
71 Craig Harrop 1:17:52  
72 Martin Savage 1:18:33  
73 Steve Comber 1:25:48  
74 David Kellett 1:29:14  
75 Shane Branigan 1:30:32  
76 Donald Cairney 1:30:53  
77 Geoffrey Ashburner 1:31:27  
78 Kieron Smythe 1:43:26  
79 Kevin Hibbins 1:43:27  
80 Nick Hoare 1:43:28  
81 Geoff Pollard 1:43:29  
82 Kingsley Morse-McNabb 1:46:26  
DNF Warwick McWaters    
DNF Jukka Pirkola    
DNF Andrew Mackenzie    
DNF Rod Luke    
DNF Mark Flood    
DNS Wade Carberry    
DNS Joel Proud    
DNS Gareth Baker    
DNS Jonas Andexlinger    
DNS Darren Hynd    
DNS Paul Purcell    
DNS Stefan Romiti    
DNS John Skilton    
DNS Stephen Rowley    
DNS Nathan McAvaney    
DNS Richard Day    
DNS Robert Southgate    
DNS Phill Lewis    
Open women (50km)
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Niki Fisher 2:20:52  
2 Lisa Jacobs 0:01:53  
3 Elizabeth Taylor 0:10:56  
4 Jo King 0:11:00  
5 Shelly Flood 0:11:32  
6 Erica Gurner 0:14:58  
7 Shelley McColl 0:16:55  
8 Prita Jobling-Baker 0:17:12  
9 Irene Whennen 0:21:49  
10 Linda Wylie 0:27:37  
11 Paula Ewing 0:38:16  
12 Monica Campi 0:41:04  
13 Rebecca Freeman 0:44:11  
14 Delphine Cantin 0:48:23  
15 Deborah Richards 0:50:21  
16 Helen Newman 1:01:21  
17 Lizzie Pope 1:09:58  
DNF Beth Meades    
DNF Marita Delany    
DNS Christy Harris    
DNS Nele Walker    
Open men (25km)
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Morgan Clark 1:00:46  
2 Simon Birch 0:05:21  
3 Bill McEvoy 0:06:51  
4 Shaun Wright 0:08:45  
5 Alex Sharp 0:09:19  
6 Michael Salvitti 0:12:45  
7 Simon Legge 0:14:31  
8 James Taylor 0:16:37  
9 Matt Haymes 0:16:39  
10 Hugh Kelly 0:20:29  
11 Nic Cherry 0:24:46  
12 Timothy Jackson 0:25:37  
13 Chris Hewitt 0:29:37  
14 Dean Crozier 0:30:03  
15 Mark Francis 0:30:31  
16 Simulai Michie 0:32:58  
17 Nathan Caithness 0:34:47  
18 Damian Collins 0:46:18  
19 Ben Meiers 0:56:35  
20 Jackson Southby 1:00:01  
21 Ben Jackson 1:07:30  
22 Andrew Meiers 3:29:36  
DNF Felix Smalley    
DNS Timmy Tyler    
DNS Simon De Campo    
Open women (25km)
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Joanna Battersby 1:20:03  
2 Amanda Lake 0:01:14  
3 Jasmine Meiers 2:11:46  
4 Nina Meiers 3:10:18